The Weirdos

14

Jasper didn't know what to say or what to do. He stood there like a statue for quite the long minute of silence.
"Hey, seriously. Are you in or are you dead?"
"In. I'm in."
Jasper opened the door and got into the Jeep. He closed the door and buckled himself in, then looked at the figure clad in black.
"I'm Jasper."
"Not anymore, you aren't."
They pulled out of the parking space while Jasper frowned at his driver. Their voice was deeper than a girl's, meaning they must've been a 'he'. Though, he'd been wrong about that before. There is such a thing as guys becoming girls and girls becoming guys. He didn't want to assume anything until he saw their face in light. But then again, he still couldn't assume anything based off looks alone. It was frustrating to live in this world already. Now there was something called mutants and he didn't know if multiple genders occurred in them as well. He didn't want to offend anyone and get on their bad side. Sometimes, it was unavoidable, though. He wanted to respond to the hooded character, but he couldn't come up with anything. Especially since he knew they were right. Evelyn said he'd assume a new identity inside the safe house. This was where he said goodbye to his old name. He wondered what they would call him from now on. Would he get to choose? If not, he hoped the name would be pretty cool and fitting.
"So, where are we going?"
Jasper finally said, breaking the silence.
The maybe guy driver, responded with a simple,
"Nope."
Jasper scoffed. "Nope?" He echoed. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means we're not doing this. The talking thing."
"We're not talking?"
"Shoosh."
Jasper frowned and stared out the window, though there wasn't much to see in the dark. There was silence between them for several minutes before Jasper finally broke it.
"Can you at least put on some music?"
The driver kept their head forward and hands on the steering wheel. It was almost like they hadn't heard Jasper at all.
This was going to be one frustrating drive. There wasn't much of a view outside and there was no music, no talking, and nothing to do. Well, he could try to sleep, but he'd done enough of that for a while. If he'd had his phone, he would've plugged some earphones in and played his own music. But, he didn't have it, or a laptop. He was starting to realize how lucky he used to be before all of this. Before, his life was good. It wasn't the best of lives, but it was good. He lived comfortably and had more things than a lot of people. Like Netflix and video games, a bed to sleep in, a roof over his head, plenty of food, plenty of clothing, a phone, a school issued laptop with insurance... He had it so good. Now, he was losing everything he ever knew. Going off to live a new life and saying goodbye to the person he once was. Jasper was left behind the moment he set foot in that Jeep. Jasper didn't exist anymore. Jasper was dead. Who was he now? A mutant without a name.